School board won't have special meeting on math text

Published 11:17 am, Thursday, January 3, 2013

There will not be a special Board of Education meeting next week on halting use of a controversial new math textbook.

Board member Jennifer Maxon Kennelly last month had requested the special meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 8, in reaction to many parents' complaints about the math text being piloted in secondary schools.

Instead, Board Chairman Philip Dwyer said Wednesday the panel will try to include more discussion of the College Preparatory Mathematics textbook, initially discussed at a Dec. 11 meeting, on the agenda for the Tuesday, Jan. 15, regular board meeting "to complete our current discussion on this topic."

Dwyer also said the topics of math education and curriculum will be on the February and March board agendas related to the K-2 math curriculum update. They will also be on the April and May agendas as related to the grades 6-12 math curriculum update and final recommendation on the textbooks to be used, he said.

"This is an important topic and deserves to be discussed at regular meetings, at which the public is accustomed to attending," he said.

Kennelly requested the Jan. 8 special meeting at the December board meeting, during which school officials gave a presentation on the textbook and a new method for teaching math, which had been criticized by many parents. She asked for the meeting after withdrawing a motion to discuss halting the book's use to the Dec. 11 agenda.

The Jan. 15 meeting is set for 7:30 p.m. in the Education Center, 501 Kings Highway East.